STANTON ST JOHN PARISH COUNCIL STANTON ST JOHN PARISH COUNCIL ANNUAL PARISH MEETING Minutes of the Annual Parish Meeting held at The Village Hall on Monday 16th April 2018 at 7.30pm. Present: Parish Councillors: David Polgreen, Andrew Clark, Gina Moore, Alex Smith, David Stern. Kirsten Johnson, John Walsh, Hannah, David Foale, Dave Pullen, Sheila Pullen, Geoff Wise, Peter Wingfield-Stratford, Fariba Battye, John Battye, Kathie Lauder, Jamie Newall, Jim Clark, Richard Stanley. Presiding: David Polgreen (Chairman of Stanton St John Parish Council) 1. Apologies for absence – Julie Stoyle (Clerk) 2. Minutes of meeting held on 10th April 2017 – these were duly signed by the Chairman as a true record of the proceedings 3. Chairman’s Report Rome had a year of 4 emperors and England has had 2 years of 3 Kings. Well this past fiscal year has been the year of the 3 clerks in Stanton St John. Actually maybe that is 4 clerks because I did the job between December and March. The whole experience has really opened my eyes to how much we ask our clerks to do. Clare Massey gave up the role in September after 4 years in the post. She has returned to her previous career as a biochemist. Then Catherine Chester took over until December. Our experience with Cath taught us a valuable lesson as I think we let her down. It is essential that we support our clerks and protect them from abuse. I think no one on the council quite realised the breadth of learning that is required by a new Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer (to give them their full title). I think some people see clerks as secretaries, but they are so much more than this. As well as running meetings, agendas, minutes and replying to emails, they have to be accountants keeping tabs on spending and income and reconciling accounts. Then they have to work with HMRC on VAT, Income Tax and National Insurance with all the myriad of forms that requires. There are two audits that have to be undertaken and even Data Protection and transparency rules to be adhered to. I learned during my period as clerk how difficult this all is to pick up and how much work is required. All this for a salary just above the Minimum Wage. Partly for this reason and partly because we were getting no candidates we decided to raise the clerk’s salary. This required raising the precept to £19200. We have now appointed Julie Stoyle from Wheatley as our clerk and she has made a very good start. She can’t be with us tonight because she had a holiday already booked when we appointed her. I would like to say an enormous thank you to Clare, Cath and Julie for all their hard work. Of course, clerks are paid but councillors just do the job for the love of it. Many areas struggle to have a full council and I can’t say I’m surprised with the amount of work that is required and the abuse councillors sometimes get. I have been chair for 5 years but with ailing parents taking more time and a fairly difficult year as chair I have decided to step down in May. I will continue as a councillor until the next election when I hope some new blood will look to joining the council. Thank you to all my fellow councillors for all their support. 1 All our chopping and changing has meant that we have had to work hard to keep on top of everything. We have had a number of planning issues and are having to address huge threats to our village in the form of the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway and the potential Wick Farm development. We have recently launched a big letter writing campaign and will soon be distributing posters so that planners are in no doubt that we will not put up with these threats. We have not had any big projects over the last year but still plan to make repairs to the raised pavements in the near future which will eat into our reserves which currently stand at £20000. The new playground has bedded in well and is being enjoyed by many youngsters. Village life has been enhanced by the ongoing groups and organisations and a very successful safari supper last summer. On a sad note we lost a much loved member of our community, Roy Roden who did so much for the village including being headmaster of the school, and heading up innumerable other village organisations and sat on this council. His wife Joyce has moved out of the village and we wish her well. We will miss them both. 4. Report from Thames Valley Police During March 2018, Thames Valley Police received 4 calls from the Stanton St John area, these related to: 1x Report of a road traffic collision 1x Report of hare coursing 1x Report of a road hazard 1x Report of a peacock walking by the road! (Ideally this would not have been reported to the 101 service as it is not a matter the police would get involved with). The suspected hare coursers were located and they turned out to be local dog walkers. We advise residents to continue to call, when any activity deemed suspicious is seen. Crime reduction/Prevention advice: Unfortunately we have recently seen an increase in theft from motor vehicles. This is mostly thefts of tools from vans and sat nav’s from windscreens. Please ensure you remove any belongs when leaving your vehicle unattended. The Thame Neighbourhood policing team have various crime prevention items available such as Smartwater, tamper proof screws and “no tools left in this van overnight” stickers. If you wish to obtain any of these items please e-mail the neighborhood team on the e-mail below or call 101. Consider your parking in case of an emergency We ask that all members of the local community consider the manner in which they park their vehicles along narrow residential roads. When parking your vehicle, consider these scenarios; If there was a fire, would a fire engine be able to easily travel along the residential road to get the people in need of help? If there was an incident and the police were called, would the police be able to easy access the roads? If an ambulance is called to save a life, can they get to the property at the bottom of your road? For everyone’s safety, please consider this when parking your vehicle on the residential roads in your towns and villages. Report sent on behalf of the Wheatley Chalgrove Neighbourhood Police Team [email protected] 2 5. Report from Kirsten Johnson, County Councillor This time last year, Mrs Anne Purse was your County Councillor. I would like to begin by paying tribute to Anne’s 24 years of hard work for this division. She continues to serve the area, both as Chair of the Maple Tree Children’s Centre committee and as Parish Transport Representative for Beckley, as well as other local roles. I have enjoyed getting to know you and the parish in my first year as your County Councillor. I have worked hard on local issues, doing my best to represent you and resolve local concerns. One of my roles is as Chair of the Woodeaton Parish Liaison Committee. If any resident has complaints about mud on the roads from quarry lorries; notices lorries coming through the village; concerns about the speed of lorries; etc., please do get in contact. McKenna Environmental is keen to maintain good relationships with surrounding villages and takes complaints seriously. Many residents in these villages have missed having regular bus services. In November, I submitted a motion to Full Council which passed unanimously, calling for public transport in our rural villages. Since then, there have been many meetings of the Bus Task & Finish Group as we explore options for bringing back our buses. I am grateful for the Otmoor Flyer team who keep the twice-a-week Comet service running, and I hope that we can have a daily service again soon. I have also been working with the Expressway Action Group to oppose the Oxford to Cambridge Expressway coming through our villages. Much of the proposed southern route of this major road is through Green Belt. Once Green Belt is destroyed, it is lost forever. I personally am not convinced of the need for this road, preferring investment in improving existing road infrastructure and rail networks. There have been local concerns on the loose stones in front of the shop and the kerbing on the high street. I have met with a highway’s officer to survey this, and also to look at the condition of the retaining wall which supports the public footpath. I am hopeful that works will be underway soon to remedy these situations. I have a further meeting set up next week to look at other parish road concerns. It has been a privilege to serve the local community. I look forward to working with you in the coming year. 6. Report from John Walsh, District Councillor The last year has been somewhat fraught with delays in producing our local plan. This has resulted in continual pressure locally for developers to be allowed to build on the green belt. Elsewhere in the district the lack of an up to date plan means we cannot demonstrate a five year land supply. Developers find it much easier to get permission even where the previous local plan would have denied it.